Fashion has evolved from a simple necessity to being a powerful statement and form of creativity – especially for women. Throughout history, fashion has only been viewed as an add on to a woman’s beauty or social class. Now, fashion is used to make both powerful social stances and invoke women empowerment.
Women are using fashion as a way of empowering themselves and the people around them. Those of celebrity status are a good example of how to take a dressy frock and turn it into headline news. A lot of viewers, myself included, only tune in to see what styles and designers hit the red carpet.
On a local level, here at Union, we have so many fashion icons on our campus. We have strong and independent women within many circles who use their fashion to make a statement about themselves and women in general.
Junior business marketing major and part time model for a local boutique, Lauren Blodgett, is one of the people that may come to your mind when thinking about a confident and empowered woman. Blodgett is unapologetically herself in all that she faces and describes her style as flexible and dependent on whatever she is in the mood for that day.
“Fashion is the best way you can express yourself to others,” Blodgett said. “It empowers me to be confident in myself. The statement ‘looks good, feels good,’ is definitely true.”
Addie Carter, senior public relations major and social justice advocate, is another well known and loved individual on campus. To know Addie Carter is to know a true and pure individual who loves well.
When asked about her stance on fashion and empowerment, Carter said this:
“Today I wore a blazer because today I felt empowered in a blazer, but tomorrow I may feel empowered in some baggy sweatpants and baggy sweater. It’s about style.”
Carter is strategic when it comes to her style by making the choice to shop locally and ethically. Carter will carefully observe where each piece of clothing she owns or purchases has been made, to ensure that the garment was crafted under ethical standards. Carter chooses to shop locally to help women and men alike in their business ventures, because these individuals believe in their style and have the grit to chase a new standard when it comes to local clothing stores.
As a woman attending a Christian university, how can I use my style to connect with my faith and standards when it comes to empowerment?
Carter so eloquently connected the concept of her fashion to representing her faith.
“As I become more aware and more at peace with who God has created me to be, I’ve become more confident in wearing clothes that maybe aren’t in style, or wearing clothes that are a little weird. It’s fine,” said Carter. “Does it honor my body? Does it honor my Creator? It’s His image I bear. And I think His image is colorful and wild and beautiful and unique and mysterious and wonderful.”
Fashion has many facets and the way you dress may change based upon your professions and day-to-day lifestyle. Ansley Ross, a junior psychology major at Union, is a great example of how her different roles in life require different forms of style, but ultimately share the same root.
“When you are universally the same with your style you remain true to yourself,” said Ross. “Your style reflects your personality, and it makes you unique.”
Ross wears many hats. She is a student, a sales manager at a local boutique in Jackson and a basketball coach for the University School of Jackson. This requires Ross to be flexible with her style of dress, but at the end of the day, she makes the point to stay true to what she likes and not care about the opinions of others.
“My style allows me to show my quirky side and creates my image to be approachable,” said Ross. “I have never thought to myself that I should be anything but unapologetically myself, so my style should also reflect that.”
When presented with a question of how she hopes her fashion can empower her friends, coworkers and teammates Ross paused for a minute. Sitting across from her, I could see the wheels turning in her head.
“I want others to wear what they want because it doesn’t matter if others agree with it,” Ross said. “If you like it, wear it! I don’t wear stuff that everyone would say is ‘cute,’ but it reflects me. You don’t have to wear what everyone else wants you to. I hope that the people I am around feel the freedom to wear what they want because that is the way I feel.”
While I always enjoy reading the Cardinal & Cream articles, I typically refrain from commenting. There are many components of this piece that I appreciate, particularly Addie Carter’s model for ethical consumerism. However, I struggle with the proposed loop between style, faith, and empowerment. To me, this seems to suggest that a person, specially a woman, is fulfilled through her physical appearance and personal expression. This focus on what is seen and valuable to the human eye is nothing short of antithetical to what it means to walk by faith. Furthermore, this falls short of the way woman are called to be empowered according to the teachings of the Bible. True “empowerment” can only come through the Holy Spirit. I recognize that this underlying message is likely not the intention of the article. However, as a woman at a Christian university, I expect the content I read to be more cautious toward my value, or sense of “empowerment” if you will, as it relates to my walk with Christ.
Summer,
Thank you for sharing your insight and perspective with us and for communicating it so graciously. This message was certainly not our intention, as this article was meant to reflect on the nature of self-expression in our current culture as well as how that manifests at Union. We truly appreciate your feedback as we grow as writers and as an editorial staff, and we apologize for the message that the article seemed to convey. We hope that this will inspire a wider fruitful conversation about true female empowerment.
-The Cardinal & Cream Staff